Screaming “Romans 13!” to someone who is pointing out the immoral deeds of the State is like shouting “turn the other cheek!” to someone who was just knocked hard in the jaw by some thug. It is an inappropriate response. It is true that we as Christians are to generally subject ourselves to those in power and turn the other cheek when smacked. That is not the debate. The debate is whether certain Statist activities and punching someone in the face (outside of the context of self-defense) are moral. I bring this up because I recently saw a conversation online in which one individual asked: “what do you think of the US invading Iraq?” And, I kid you not, the response was “Romans 13 says the State has the right to use the sword.” As if this phrase justifies every war waged against humanity. One wonders in that case why these same Bush-supporters become angry at the thought of various foreign governments fighting back against the United States. Do these governments have the right to use the sword– especially in a defensive, reactionary manner? I honestly fear the answers. Another conversation I read recently went something like this (this one is not verbatim): “I think all the politicians in both parties are corrupt.” Absurd response: “the Bible says not to speak bad things against our leadership.” It is primarily in America, I think, that people really struggle with this. In many other countries, where statist persecution against Christians is rampant, there is no confusion about the freedom Christians should have to make observations about rightful and wrongful acts undertaken by government. I mean can you even picture some self-righteous, pampered Pharisee grinning to a victim of Mao Zedong while loudly shouting “Romans 13, Romans 13… obey obey!!” It is quite sick. Romans 13 no where nullifies, and in fact does uphold, the reality that every single individual, yes, including those who are employed by the State apparatus, are to obey the moral law of God. If it is immoral for the citizen to lie, steal, and murder, so these things are immoral for the group of individuals who call themselves the government. When one considers that the United States was once unique in the world precisely because the citizens were allowed, indeed encouraged, to speak up at every instance of immoral behavior coming from the State, it is obvious how far we have fallen as a country. As a strict libertarian, I consider mostly all that the State does as self-motivated, actually harmful, and inherently criminal. But even if one doesn’t reach the same conclusions as I do, surely few Americans would even think twice about criticizing some foreign ruler for doing the exact same things that at least a handful of American Presidents have done. This is hypocrisy and disturbing American-centrism in nearly every regard. This is a revolting example of “America-can-do-no-wrongism,” which is tantamount to opining that “America is the exception to God’s objective moral standards.” Unfortunately, American Christians seems to have been captured in awe by the magnificence of the State’s power, and this is usually expressed in a twisted form of “patriotism.” A decent argument to make is that patriotism is love for one’s country. While I do completely support this idea, it seems to me that the prevailing attitude these days, especially in neoconservative (
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:46:13 +0000
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